My first flash fiction triptych – three interlinked tiny fictions – is published in the New Flash Fiction Review. And my first piece of narrative non-fiction has been published, an essay about bringing myself to everything I watch on TV, in Syndicated Magazine.

Booking has just opened for the Arvon course in Hybrid Writing I am co-tutoring with the amazing Maria Fusco at Lumb Bank in Yorkshire in Oct 2019. There are bursaries are available – more details here >>

So – I’ve made my very first audiobook! Produced by the excellentSoundByte Recording, you can listen to me reading stories from my first collection, The White Road & Other Stories (Salt Modern Fiction, 2008). Available from Audible and Amazon – click here to hear me reading a sample story, my flash story, Plaits.

You can now read my flash story, So Many People, which won Synaesthesia magazine’s 2018 Flash Fiction Contest, and a short interview with me.

october

My flash story, So Many People, has won the 2018 Synaesthesia Flash Fiction Competition – and as part of the prize, I will be Synaesthesia magazine’s 2019 writer-in-residence.

My poem, ‘Play’, has been commended in the Waltham Forest Poetry Competition – you can read it here >>

Sep 8: Today’s the 10th birthday of my first book, The White Road & Other Stories, published in 2008 by the fab Salt Publishing! To celebrate, I’ve made an audiobook with the wonderful Soundbite Recording, which will be out later this month. Here’s a teaser: https://soundcloud.com/taniahershman/plaits-by-

august

I’m very happy to have found a home for an odd little hybrid piece inspired by the wonderfully strange 1970s science film “Powers of Ten” at the Blue Fifth Review.

I have an article in the new issue of Mslexia magazine on boasting for beginners – are women worse at it? Should we do it better? My short story, ‘And What If All Your Blood Ran Cold’ has been selected for Best British Short Stories 2018, to be published by Salt. There are two new interviews with me this week – an audio piece over at the Royal Literary Fund’s website in which I talk about my reading habits, and the New Flash Fiction Review asked me some questions about my flash story, My Mother Was An Upright Piano, which is being reprinted in an anthology, NEW MICRO — EXCEPTIONALLY SHORT FICTION (W.W. Norton & Co., 2018).

may

My short story collection, Some Of Us Glow More Than Others, is a year old today! In celebration, my publisher, Unthank Books, asked me to share some thoughts on writing short stories on their blog:”What is a short story? As a writer, I’d rather ask: What can I make the short story do for me?” You can read the full blog post here, your thoughts on my thoughts very welcome!

Over at Rogue Strands, Matthew Stewart reviews ‘Terms and Conditions’: “Tania Hershman’s first full collection is characterised by the deft way she works through her relationship with life, always implicating and involving the reader in that process. By acknowledging that life is packed with tensions and opposites, by accepting and embracing their juxtaposition and coexistence, she’s able to renegotiate her own terms and conditions.”

Peter Raynard reviews ‘Terms and Conditions’ on the Poetry School blog, calling it “a tightly conceived, perfectly formed set of poignant poems that question modern day (virtual) reality”. Read the full review here >>

Bidisha has written a lovely article, ‘Where the poems begin‘, about my writing, my new books and my London July book launch for the Times Literary Supplement: “Whether in prose or free verse, Hershman’s writing combines a clear style and witty observations with sinister, often symbolic plot developments. She is a master of the very short story, presenting swift action and an eerie undertow with lightness and emotional precision; the work feels roomy, never compressed.” You can read the full article here.

And in Litro, Christina Saunders says of my new short story collection: “Hershman’s genius lays with her ability to prize open the ordinary: moles, flavours, video-games, gasometers, flipping our vision until objects stare right back, transformed, gorgeous, broken, and wanting.”

A review of my new poetry collection in Mslexia (not available online) says: “Tania Hershman’s debut poetry collection is a natural linguistic and stylistic progression from her scientific journalism and short fiction writing. There is so much to appreciate and discuss here (with each and every poem). It is elegantly, economically and carefully written; nothing is superfluous and the strong imagery, lyricism, syntax, and metaphorical language work deep within the poems, unpacking meaning and sound with ease.”

july

Terms and Conditions, my debut poetry collection, is now available from Nine Arches Press! Find out more here >>

Baby, the opening poem from my collection, has just been published in the new issue of Southword.

I have a new article up on Writers & Artists, about where I got – and get – permission to move from short story writing to poetry. And I am grateful to Rupert Dastur for a wonderful review on The Short Story of Some Of Us Glow More Than Others: “a mind-bendingly good collection … careful prose shining down on the world of science, of strange happenings and lonely souls who step into the darkness”. Read the review here.

Our Book Reviews calls Some Of Us Glow More Than Others “a really excellent collection of short stories that you are sure to enjoy and if you’re unsure about the genre then this is an excellent place to start.” Read the full review here. And I recently wrote an odd hybrid article about the collection for Necessary Fiction’s ‘Research Notes’.

Delighted to have won 3rd prize in the Institute of Psychoanalysis’ Poetry & Psychoanalysis poetry competition with ‘Baby’, which will be the opening poem in my collection, Terms and Conditions! And I have a poem in the new issue of Spontaneity, my own small anthem for the single woman, No I Do Not Tango.

may

Head over to Sarah_James’s In the Booklight for an interview with me – and a giveaway of my new collection! Bookmunch calls Glow “an extremely readable book by one of the best in the business” – read the full review here.

My first review! Over on SkyLightRain, Judy Darley writes: ” Each of the tales examines, in its own way, what it means to be human, and the potential kindnesses and cruelties lying in wait both around and within us. While many lead us into laboratories, other sneak us into more unexpected places of moral and quizzical reflection, sometimes under cover of darkness...Birds, sea creatures, mice and cells with uncommon sentience hum in quiet corners, and a faint glimmer of loneliness laces the shadows.” Read the full review here.

Delighted to have two poems longlisted for the UK’s National Poetry Competition – congratulations to the winners! The March edition of TaniaReads is here! Sit back & let me read you a poem & a short story… http://eepurl.com/cDuzo9. Poems from my forthcoming collection have been accepted for publication in Spontaneity, B O D Y Literature and The Rialto magazine, coming soon!

february

The Feb edition of TaniaReads is here! Sit back & let me read you a poem & a short story… http://eepurl.com/cDuzo9. Two poems from my forthcoming collection have been accepted for publication in The Rialto magazine’s next issue, to be published in March.

january

I just sent out the first of my monthly ‘Tania Reads’ audio recordings of me reading poems and stories from my two collections, coming out later this year. Here’s this month’s, do sign up here to get it straight to your Inbox!

I have two new poems, Advice for the Traveller, published on US Presidential Inauguration Day, Jan 20th, on New Boots, and What is New, written on Jan 1st, up on Visual Verse.

december

Sign up here if you’d like me to send you a new monthly audio poem or short story (or both) from my new collections, & I’ll start reading to you in January!

Booking is now open for the Arvon ‘Starting to Write’ course I am co-tutoring in Aug 2017 with my friend and fabulous poet Jo Bell. More details here! And Claire Trevien has given my poetry pamphlet a lovely mention in Sabotage Reviews’ End of 2016 Critics’ Choice, saying “Tania Hershman’s Nothing Here is Wild, Everything is Open(Southword Editions) … upends you in the best way”

My poetry chapbook, Nothing Here Is Wild, Everything Is Open, has been beautifully reviewed by Rosalind Hudis in the Wales Arts Review, who says: “There is a strata in these poems of deep ‘care-taking’ – even if it leads to questioning rather than action….She is, above all, a story-teller. Strong detail keeps the reader in the world of tangible sensation, spiced up by the occasional startling image.” Read the full review here>>

august

My brand new short story, There Is No-One In The Lab But Mice, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday Aug 28th at 7.45pm, and is now available on Listen Again for a month after that. An article I wrote about one of my favourite books of science-inspired fiction, Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, is now published in Issue 51 of the gorgeous Slightly Foxed print magazine.

There are two new reviews of my poetry chapbook: at Under the Radar magazine (print) DA Prince says “What struck me is the unity and warmth of this collection… varied in form and viewpoint, they add up to a coherent whole”; and at Sabotage Reviews Angela Topping says: “Many of the poems take this kind of surrealist slant, which often leads to surprising and quirky approaches which keep the reader entertained. On the whole this is an interesting first foray into poetry, and I hope Hershman continues to write in both genres.”

july

My poem, Getting Away With It, has been longlisted for The London Magazine poetry competition. A poem from my chapbook, This Too is Prayer, is published on Ink, Sweat and Tears.

I am thrilled to announce that the fabulous Nine Arches Press will publish my debut poetry collection in July 2017! Stay tuned for updates…

My chapbook is reviewed in the April/May 2016 issue of Southword journal by Thomas McCarthy, who was one of the four judges of the Fool For Poetry contest in which my chapbook won 2nd prize, who says: “There is a calm centre to her work, a meditative and mediating core, from which the poem expands outward. Parallel with this persistent sense of escape, or evisceration, is that other, harder, technical, formal ambition in the work: Hershman is not afraid to try it on, to stretch the line, to demand a visual awareness in her readers.” You can read the full review here.

march

Delighted to have a new short story, Octopus’s Garden, published in the excellent online journal, Catapult! And my poetry chapbook has received its first reviews – over at BookMunch, Lucille Turner calls it “quantum poetry… Add a touch of Existentialism and a dash of Postmodernist uncertainty and you have the essence of this collection. It has to be unsettling.” And The Cork Evening Echo said: “Nothing Here Is Wild, Everything Is Open is a collection suffused with touches of humour, nostalgia and melancholy.”

My poetry chapbook, Nothing Here Is Wild, Everything Is Open, is published and available! Find out more here >>

jan 2016

My poetry chapbook is going to be launched at the Cork International Poetry Festival on Feb 12th, and I’ve been invited to do all sorts of wonderful events this year – more great invites keep rolling in – do invite me to come read somewhere in the UK, I love doing it! Here is the list so far…

december

The 5-day residential flash fiction course I am co-tutoring with Dave Swann at Arvon’s The Hurst in August 2016 is now open for booking – come flash with us (bursaries available)!

october

I am delighted to be shortlisted for the Live Canon poetry competition – ALL the shortlisted poems will be performed by the ensemble at the prize-giving event, as well as being published in the 2015 anthology. More here >>>

Delighted to have three poems published on the excellent And Other Poems, which is a treasure trove of wonderful and varied poetry! And my poem, Vandalism, has been commended in the 2015 PenFro poetry competition.

august

I have two poems published in Poems for A Liminal Age, a wonderful new anthology raising money for Medecin Sans Frontiers, do check it out and purchase!

july

I am delighted to have won 2nd prize in Munster Lit’s Fool for Poetry chapbook competition and my debut poetry chapbook will be published in February 2016! More details here… A new poem, Relativity, inspired by the political situation here in the UK, is published on New Boots and Pantisocracies. And a brand new flash story, The Most New Sport, is published in New Flash FIction Review Summer 2015 Issue.

june

3 poems have been accepted for And Other Poems in September, and I’ve been invited to read at the London launch on July 21st of Ambit magazine’s 221st issue, in which I have a (long) short story – details here! Some very exciting poetry news coming soon…

2 new poems have just been accepted by Under the Radar magazine for their Summer 2015 issue, and my poetry pamphlet was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Press poetry pamphlet competition – congratulations to the winners! I’ve also been invited to do an event on short stories at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s ReadFest, on Sept 15th, more details soon.

may

Poems have been accepted for B O D Y and the The Stinging Fly‘s Winter 2015 issue, guest edited by one of my favourite poets, Billy Ramsell! Another poem was longlisted for the Rialto Nature Poetry competition, judged by Simon Armitage, and a flash fiction of mine will be published on FlashFiction.net.

The eBook of Writing Short Stories: A Writers And Artists Companion (Bloomsbury), co-authored by me and Courttia Newland, is now available!

april

The eBook of Writing Short Stories: A Writers And Artists Companion (Bloomsbury), co-authored by me and Courttia Newland, will be available shortly – for Kindle here from April 23 and in EPUB format from April 14! I have two new poems in the April 2015 issue of Shearsman magazine, and my Ruskin Poetry Prize third-prize-winning poem will be published in the next issue of POEM magazine.

march

A poem of mine was commended in the Enfield Poets 2014 Poetry Competition.

february

I’m delighted that my poem, Dreams of a Tea Seller, is shortlisted for the 2014 Poetry Teignmouth poetry competition. Full shortlist here – results announced on March 22!

Delighted to have won 3rd prize in the Ruskin Poetry Prize, judged by David Harsent! Read my poem, Lessons in Flanders Agriculture, and the winning poems here >> or listen to me read my poem on SoundCloud.

Am more than thrilled to unveil that I have two poems highly commended in the 2014 Charles Causley poetry competition, which you can read, along with the winners, here (PDF) or listen to me read them on SoundCloud. I have had two poems accepted by Shearsman magazine, and two accepted for publication in the Poems For A Liminal Age anthology, which raises money for Medecin Sans Fronters.

I will be one of the two guest readers at Loose Muse on Jan 14th at the Poetry Cafe, Betterton Street, London – do come along!

december

Delighted that I have had a short story accepted for publication in the excellent Ambit magazine, coming out next summer, a poem accepted by Ink, Sweat and Tears (published sooner!) and two poems commended in a poetry competition whose details I am not at liberty to divulge yet!

I’m delighted to unveil www.LeavingTheLine.com, the electronic version of the fruits of my collaboration with WW1 military historian Jeremy Banning for the Festival of Ideas and Bristol2014. You can read my blog post for a bit about the collaboration… Also, I was interviewed by the excellent Jen Harvey, new online flash fiction editor at Litro magazine, about my flash story, Think of Icebergs.

october

I’m thrilled that my poem, Pulled, was commended in the Ealing Autumn Festival Poetry Competition. The judge, George Szirtes, called it “a gorgeous poem about desire under the stars, the poem itself like a kiss”. You can read the poem here.

septemberI’m over at Something Rhymed talking about my friendship (writerly and otherwise!) with my pal Vanessa Gebbie… find out what the mouse has to do with it! And my short story, The Party, is online at Room Magazine and also included in its newly released Geek Girls issue.

august
My short story, War Games, is published in the summer issue of the Wales Arts Review. Two very short poems were published on Nutshells and Nuggests and two poems have been longlisted for Canterbury Poet of the Year 2014 and will be published in the prize-winners anthology. My poetry pamphlet was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Press Poetry Pamphlet competition.

july
I have had two poems longlisted and one shortlisted for the Wirral Festival of Firsts Poetry Competition and my pamphlet was longlisted for the Flarestack Poetry Pamphlet competition. My short short story, The Perfect Egg, which was published in Nature Futures in Jan 2011, will be included in Nature’s second e-anthology, available later this summer.